BAGHDAD, Iraq — Four days of sectarian slaughter killed at least 91 people by Monday in Balad, a town near a major U.S. air base an hour’s drive north of the capital. Elsewhere, 60 Iraqis died in attacks and 16 tortured bodies were found.

The U.S. command said seven American troops died in fighting a day earlier. That raised the U.S. toll to 58 killed in the first two weeks of October, a pace that if continued would make the month the worst for coalition forces since 107 U.S. and 10 British soldiers died in January 2005.

Iraqi deaths also are running at a high rate. According to an Associated Press count, 708 Iraqis have been reported killed in war-related violence this month, or just over 44 a day, compared to a daily average of more than 27 since the AP began tracking deaths in April 2005.

A surge in sectarian bloodshed and jump in U.S. casualties coincide with the run-up to the American midterm elections in which the Bush administration’s handling of the Iraq war has become a key issue.

U.S. lays low in Balad
The U.S. military has kept a low profile in Balad, where violence began Friday with the slaying of 17 Shiite Muslim workers. Revenge-seeking Shiite death squads then killed 74 Sunnis, causing people to flee across the Tigris River to the nearby Sunni-dominated city of Duluiyah.

An American spokesman did not directly respond when asked if the Iraqi government had sought U.S. military assistance in quelling the violence.

“Coalition force units are partnering with Iraqi police and Iraqi army units involved in operations around Balad. We are also providing quick reaction assets to the Iraqi police and army. The IA and IP are in the lead with the operations around Balad,” Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said.

The two runways at the air base on the outskirts of Balad are among the world’s busiest, launching 27,500 aircraft a month, hundreds of them bomb-laden jets that support U.S. troops moving against insurgents. The base is also the supply hub for all U.S. military operations in Iraq.

Bush calls al-Maliki
President Bush, meanwhile, telephoned Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Monday to reassure him of American support as rumors swirled through Baghdad that Washington had lost patience with the Shiite leader during his little more than four months in office.

Bush spokesman Tony Snow said the president used the 15-minute conversation to tell al-Maliki there was no American deadline for the Iraqi government to be able to stand on its own.

Al-Maliki “said that rumors sometimes can undercut confidence in the government and also its ability to work effectively in fighting terror,” Snow reported. “And the president said, ‘Don’t worry, you still have our full support.”’

Al-Maliki canceled a planned visit to Turkey on Monday. His office cited inclement weather for flying.

Later Monday, Ali al-Dabagh, al-Maliki’s spokesman, told the AP that the prime minister had asked parliamentary political blocs to nominate representatives to sit on a new committee with a mandate to disband the militias behind the sectarian killings.

Political figures close to al-Maliki’s coalition government said the prime minister was under mounting pressure from the United States to shut down the armed groups.

Al-Dabagh was sketchy on details about the committee, but said it would be asked to find a method for disbanding the militias, including their absorption into the army.

When pressed on how well that would work when previous attempts failed, al-Dabagh said “appropriate measures” would be taken against any political bloc that failed to disband its militia.

Among the 60 Iraqis killed outside Balad on Monday was Imad al-Faroon, the brother of the chief prosecutor in the second trial of Saddam Hussein. Gunmen burst into his home and shot him to death in front of his wife, government official Ali al-Lami told the AP.

Another car bomb killed nine people and wounded 35 in Suwayrah, 25 miles south of Baghdad, Mayor Hussein Mohammed al-Ghurabi said.

In killings bearing the hallmarks of sectarian reprisal killings, the bullet-riddled and tortured bodies of 11 men were dumped in the capital overnight, two of them in a trash pit, police Capt. Mohannad al-Bahadli said. Five tortured bodies were found in towns north of the city.

Eight members of a Shiite family were shot to death by men wearing military uniform who burst into their home just after sunrise in Latifiyah, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, said Muayed Fadhil Hussein, a local official.